In the winter of 1963-64 some Nelsonville residents interested in the early history of the village met every two weeks for discussion, doing sane research, and producing an outline for study. The Portage County Historical Society was invited to a meeting on April 15, 1964 to share sane of the findings. I agreed to find out what concern these pioneers had for education. I searched and searched but could find no early records. About six months later, Eva Wimme, a real local history fan, appeared at my door with a dirty, dilapidated cardboard box found in the corner of an attic in a Nelsonville home. What a find! In this box I found a school register1 sane class books, a treasurer’s book which also contained the original contracts of early teachers.
No one on our community had known about the minutes of annual meetings beginning in 1868. There were census reports and other materials that gave a picture of the schools of that era. Space permits giving only a small amount of the information given in the records:
School census lists and family names in the class books show that the very earliest settlers were not of Norwegian descent, though in the late 1860’s, 70’s and 80’s the development of the village and vicinity was carried on by immigrants from Norway or their sons. The people who came to work for Jerome Nelson, the founder of the village, in his mills and other business in the locality, originally came from the East or other parts of Wisconsin. We find listed the family names of Darling, Snyder, Creed, Staley, Mitchum, Joseph and Metcalf.
Jerome Nelson secured the site on which his first mill was located fran the U.S. Government, Nov. 28, 1854. On Sept. 10, 1855 he arranged with Claus and Anna Stoltenberg to build a dam and create a pond on part of their land along the Tomorrow River. The first mill was built in 1855. A school must have been important to the early settlers for in 1857 a small building, 14 x 20, with handmade seats and benches, was erected on the land of Johannes Christianson, east of the present school building. The first teacher was Sarah Nelson, a sister of Jerome Nelson. This building served the district for 16 years, for the minutes of the 1872 annual meeting show that $300 was to be raised in 1872-73 for the purpose of building a new school 21 x 34 x 12.
This second school was built across the Nelsonville pond and is now the dwelling of Bernard Stanke who operates a garage near his home. This new building, according to the records, was occupied in 1873.
Jerome Nelson purchased the first school for $25 and presented it to Johannes Christianson. He used it for storage. Mr. Nelson sold the site for the second school to the district for $20. In 1904 when the present school, then consisting of one room, was built, the second school was sold to Ben Frederickson for $450. The district purchased the site for the third school from John Loberg, son-in-law of Jerome Nelson, for $400.
Minutes of the annual meeting show that early businessmen, prominent in the community, served as members of the school board - as clerk, director, treasurer or as chairman of the annual meeting. Jerome Nelson served on the board and was frequently “in the chair” at annual meetings. John Moen, Henry Darling, Oscar Snyder, A. A. Peterson, who was Postmaster and a maker and seller of boots and shoes, Lars L. Loberg, who had a general store and was engaged in many business activities in the community, and Ole Iverson are listed as school officers.
Teachers of this era usually boarded in various homes in the district.
The records show that early teachers boarded in the Nelson hare. April 10, 1868, to M. A. Nelson (Marrilla) for “boarding”, $24. March 8, 1869, to J. Nelson for “Boarding”, $30. May 14, 1859, to J. Nelson for teacher boarding, $20.
From 1868 to 1886 the amount of money raised by the district averaged $180 a year. A low of $100 and a high of $225. In 1879 the district raised $150, the County $20 and the State $23.56 for the school. In 1886 the district raised $200, the County provided $56.90 and the State $64.
According to the treasurer, very little was provided each year in the way of equipment and supplies. Pupils furnished their own books and slates. A common item of purchase was a box or two of chalk, a pail and dipper and a broom were frequently furnished. Wood was purchased each year for $1.00, $1.50 or $2.00 per cord. On Sept. 22, 1857 a large dictionary was purchased from the state superintendent for $7. On Nov. 11, 1881, 26 school desks were purchased for $98 and a teacher’ s desk for $8. Other purchases were: Sept. 7, 1894, a map for $6; Jan. 7, 1902, a suspension globe for $16; Nov. 3, 1897, a bell and a flag for $21.35.
In 1886 the school board was instructed to purchase school texts and sell to pupils at cost. In 1897 they voted to furnish books free of charge to the school children. School books for $32.20, $7.06 and $9.12 were purchased in 1897 and 1898.
The original contracts from 1867 to 1902 list the names of 22 teachers employed in the district at different times. Voters decided if there would be five, six or seven month terms.
Winter terms began in September or October, Summer terms began in April or May.
There was a Christmnas vacation of two or three weeks.
Voters decided if a male teacher or a “good female teacher” should be hired. Men teachers usually taught the winter term, firing the stove and shoveling snow also. Women taught the summer term. Big boys, seventeen, eighteen and nineteen years old attended school in the winter term and this called for a man teacher.
The average salary of a teacher from 1867 to 1902 was $28 per month. August Miller in 1867 received $17 per month.
--Alice Gordon, Nelsonville October 15, 1968